Elders Meeting a Success

Mill Pond's elders met today at Yanni's and accomplished some great stuff. First of all, we teased Patrick mercilessly by placing a high chair in his spot and a small dish of apple sauce. This had nothing to do with church business, but was tremendously fun anyway.

 

We talked about prayer and strategy for breaking the 200 attendance barrier. We also discussed the general mood of the congregation. We also talked about maintaining our high level of pastoral care with new people as we grow.

 

 

What exactly is love?

OK, so I'm commenting on my own post. But here's the thing--we say we're "A church passionately loving God, then actively loving people" right? But what does that mean?

I think we have to passionately, sincerely love God IN ORDER to actively love people. For one thing, if we don't know what God has designed for us--His purpose, law, and plan, how CAN we love people and hate sin. I think our ignorance often leads to the opposite--loving sin and hating people! We have to put God first to know what's next.

Then--and we could unpack this for years--we ACTIVELY love people because love is a decision followed by actions of service, giving, forgiveness, protection, helps, etc.

Thoughts?

Pastor Joel takes to the airwaves!

Hey Guys--FYI, I'm the speaker for next week's "Bread of Life" program on
WIHS, 104.9 FM all next week. It will be aired at 12:25 PM, 5:25 PM, and 12:15
AM each weekday.

There's a slightly different schedule on Sat-Sunday, 12:10 PM
and 5:25 PM.

Thought you'd like to know...Praise God, it's a free "plug" for
Mill Pond.

Blessings,PJ

Building Update: March 18th, 2009

Building Update-- Town building inspectors have several concerns about our design plans which are being reviewed with our architect. Please pray for favor in their eyes so that the project can go forward. We know God is in charge and all will work out eventually. I'll keep you all posted as soon as something changes.

What does "living a give life" mean?

A pastor I once knew would say that there are basically just two ways of life--give or get. It's easy to see that based on Luke 6:38 and similar passages, Jesus taught and lived the "give way." So we could glibly reply--"Well then 'living the give life' means being a Christian." And we'd be done with this.......

or would we?

What does a give life look like? How does it impact our money? Our time? Our friendships? Our sex life? Our choice of churches to attend? The ministries we serve in and whether or not we can be counted on to serve in them consistently? Our marriages? Our...our...our EVERYTHING???

I would argue that very few Christians really understand what living the give life means. Every time I hear someone say, "I don't want to come to that event because it's not meeting my needs." Or, "I can't handle being near that person cause he/she is just a drain on me." Or, "I can't afford to tithe." Or...you name it--I realize we're a long way from the "pick up your cross and follow me" version of Christ-likeness.

How do we fix that?

Honestly, I don't know. I've tried to live and teach it for over 20 years. Still, I still struggle with it and find it even harder to communicate or duplicate it if and when I might get it right. I think it's something "caught" not "taught." I also think it's caught primarily from face time with Jesus--not anyone or anything else. In other words, I think it's our real worship of and communion with him that changes us into a "give way" person--a true disciple. We must want it and choose it--and perhaps that's the hardest part.

Do you?